Perhaps there’s something about being a Raider that fits Michael Crabtree well. Seven years after the wide receiver was setting records, winning national awards and causing Colt McCoy’s jaw to drop agape in disbelief as a Red Raider, Crabtree is once again a Raider and the early returns are good.
Crabtree signed as a free agent with the Oakland Raiders this offseason after playing the first seven years of his NFL career across the bay in San Francisco. The irony being that San Francisco was only able to draft Crabtree with the No. 10 selection in the 2009 NFL draft because Oakland passed him over to draft a much less heralded player.
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Crabtree wanted more money than he was guaranteed as the No. 10 pick but the 49ers refused, leading to Crabtree to hold out of his first NFL training camp. Though Crabtree eventually joined the team for 11 games in the fall, the relationship between the player, the fans, and the organization was soured–never to fully recover.
Another issue that kept Crabtree from making the splash most expected him to make in the NFL, has been injuries. A small fracture in his left foot hobbled the Red Raider star at the end of the 2008 season causing him to have offseason surgery and keeping him from working out for teams prior to the 2009 draft (which was most likely the reason Oakland passed on him).
Lingering issues continued to slow the receiver who former 49ers’ head coach Jim Harbaugh once said had the best hands he’d ever seen. Then, in 2013, coming off of his best season (2012; one of only two seasons in which he has played a full 16 games) and a Super Bowl appearance, Crabtree tore his Achilles tendon in the offseason.
Since that injury, Crabtree has only 87 catches for 982 yards and five touchdowns. Compare that to his career best season in 2012 when he amassed 85 grabs for 1,105 yards and 9 touchdowns, and you can see why San Francisco views Crabtree’s time with the organization as a disappointment.
However, amid the grumblings coming from skeptical media members and fans suggesting that Crabtree is washed up at the age of 27, reports are surfacing from Raiders training camp saying that he is looking like he did in his college days, when he was virtually unstoppable.
Despite being the perceived No. 2 or 3 option in the Oakland passing game, Crabtree has transcended all the other pass catchers in camp. Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted about the Red Raider legend’s impressive start in Oakland.
Cooper has been fine; Crabtree star of first 3 days https://t.co/GCuMEfDp9b
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) August 3, 2015
The “Cooper” Tafu is referring to is rookie wide receiver from Alabama, Amari Cooper who enters the NFL with the hype and expectations that once accompanied Crabtree’s arrival. However, it appears Cooper is fortunate that he is in his rookie training camp, unlike Crabtree was in 2009, because he can learn a few tricks from the veteran wide out.
"Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio indicates that he is confident in his new veteran pass catcher, “Mike’s a proven player. I don’t think we have to worry much about Mike, other than becoming a good teammate, getting himself in tiptop shape and being ready to have a great year.”"
Crabtree might also see his NFL statistics increase by catching passes from one of 2014’s top rookie quarterbacks. Raiders signal caller Derek Carr threw for 3,270 yards and 21 TD’s last season and he is glad to have Crabtree as a new weapon.
“It’s just easy to throw to him,” Carr told reporters. “And that’s a credit to his route-running abilities, that’s a credit to the extra work he put in in the off-season. That guy works his tail off. You can tell when he gets out here, because he makes it look so easy. He’s making one-handed catches on go routes one foot off the ground like, ‘Oh, I do that every day,’ which he does.”
When Crabtree played at Texas Tech, his head coach had an affinity for wearing pirate garb, including eye patches and now the logo on Crabtree’s helmet wears one as well. Perhaps that is a sign that the NFL is about to see the vintage Michael Crabtree who will forever be grabbing the ball along the sidelines and rushing into the north end zone of Jones Stadium, causing Colt McCoy to experience the voodoo of the Jones first hand.
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